Final Fantasy Fun

Holy Chocobo! We're in the home stretch of FFV! Let's pause a moment to ogle the closing FMV from the PS1 version.



It's a fine recap of some exciting moments in the game: pyromaniac Exdeath setting the Moogle forest on fire around the Guardian Tree, Galuf's attack on Castle Exdeath thwarted by the barrier and his friends showing up to spoil everything, Krile on her trusty dragon seeking the perpetually lost party, Faris losing her beloved Syldra the Sea Dragon all the way back on Disc One, the shade (?) of King Tycoon playing hide-and-seek with us, the Lonka/Ronka ruins flying up into the sky, and  a couple endgame battles we still have to look forward to (or flee, if we have any sense).

Symbolism ahoy! I've totally lost track of which crystal / element / attribute goes with what in this FF installment, and I don't know why I care, but I'm puzzling over them, particularly hope = fertility? I also marvel at how quickly graphics look dated, and how awesome Faris and Lenna look in trenchcoat and court attire with matching katanas.

All right! Sidequests before saving the world. (But I also save the world, because this is the final installment of my FFV playthrough.)

( on with the playthrough )

Hooray! We've landed in another world to help our friends, and have promptly been captured and imprisoned! Aren't we clever Warriors of Light? We're giving Firion a run for his money!



( On with the playthrough )

Quick recap from the Advance introduction to FFV, to set the mood with zany plunky-plunky-plunky Uematsu music:



So our four heroes have been drafted as the Warriors of Light (WoLlies really need to form a union) and are off to the next Crystal, as soon as we can escape the Kiddie Pool Inner Sea.

( On with the playthrough )

Huzzah! It is time. Originally, Final Fantasy VIII occupied my "favorite FF" slot, then X usurped it, then, within the past year or so -- despite liking XII and XIII a great deal -- I fell in love with V. It won't unseat X in my hierarchy of gamer fannishness, but it's definitely in the "games I'll play again and again just for fun" category.

FFV is goofy, it lacks the depth of recent installments, and I have only ever played the PS1 version with a translation flatter than Mr. Data's poetry, but even so, the charm shone through. I'm looking forward to the iOS version with the infamous madcap translation, even if the chibi sprites have been re-drawn as Gumby & Pokey figures.

I realize that my last few playthroughs have gotten a little too ploddingly detailed? as I play games I haven't played before and share my first reactions to ALL THE THINGS. (Even though I still skipped a lot). I'm not quite sure what people want as far as reading my playthroughs.

I really, really, REALLY want to make this one fun. So tell me what you want to see.

...and this time I'm going to try to take notes for the playthrough AS I play it, so I'm not stuck writing up all my thoughts post-play from ten jillion screencaps after the fact.

Wow, these guys are great THIS GUY are sick. Rina, this one's for you:


ETA: HOLY SQUEE, IT'S ALL THE SAME GUY. 

They've He's also done "epic medleys" for FFV and FFIX, plus shorter vids for FFX and FFVII.

His Final Fantasy playlist

mako_lies just drew my attention to this Yuffie (ff7) and Faris (ff5) ficbit:

A ninja and a pirate walk into a bar....

I love crossovers playing on different inflections of the same trope.

And Faris, of course.

ETA: YES I HAVE NO BRAIN and forgot that mako_lies is also the author because I can't remember pseuds sorry facepalm.

I love this game. It makes me giggle. It goes along being a classic old 8-bit D&D spinoff video game, and then suddenly the script writer gets bored and throws in a hint of Terry Pratchett.

I feel compelled to make a userpic with one of the zany villain battle quotes.

So, keeping with my tradition of being the last person on the planet to play good games, I picked up Final Fantasy Anthology for $10. Of couse, FFVI is the good game of the two on that two-game set.

However, I'm playing FFV first, since this is just something to do while pedalling on an exercise bike. Perfect for that.

Why doesn't Captain Faris have a fan following? I guess the rest of the game is so short on characterization and plot that it's mostly for game mechanics fans, but this character needs more love.

I think Faris was reborn as Lightning Farron. A pity the fake pirate accent disappeared.

Also, Galuf is clearly Captain Basch after getting bashed on the head with a rock.

I'm only partway through the game -- I need to head off to Crescent Island to collect my next plot coupon -- but it's a fun diversion.

I'll play VI when I'm finished so I can finally enjoy the game which so many of my Old School Gamer friends seem to recommend.